Many food products are often presliced and packaged for sale to consumers. For example, thinly sliced food products, such as luncheon meats, are often presliced and packaged in an ordered stack wherein only the first or top slice is viewed from the package exterior. In one known example, the presliced stack is vacuum-sealed within a flexible bag or pouch that is either labeled or is contained within a labeled rigid container, such as a cardboard container. It is also known that such flexible packages may be made reclosable once unsealed by the consumer, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,853 issued Dec. 10, 1996, entitled MULTI-SEAL RECLOSABLE FLEXIBLE PACKAGE FOR DISPLAYING THINLY SLICED FOOD PRODUCTS. In another example, the ordered stack is held within a rigid package formed to conform to the dimensions of the sliced and ordered stack and a lid covering the package, such as a plastic package of bologna having a cylindrical rigid base conforming to the ordered stack and a lid that covers the base.
Alternatively, thinly sliced food products are packaged such that the slices are randomly arranged or jumbled within the package. The jumbled slices, rather than lying flat on each other in an orderly stack form, lie ruffled such that there are bends and curves in the meat slices with space or air gaps present in between some of the adjacent slices. This gives the sliced food product a “freshly-sliced deli” appearance or a “fluffed” look. Many consumers prefer the fluffed look since it resembles the look of food products that are freshly sliced at the deli in comparison to the pressed meat look of traditional ordered stack packaging where the slices lie flush engagement with adjacent upper and lower slices. Such fluffed food products are typically sealed in a random arrangement within a flexible bag or pouch. Typically, the packages for containing such food products do not conform to the shape of the individual slices, as in many ordered stack packages, since the food product is not intended to look as though it has been stacked.
However, presliced and fluffed food products often do not retain their fluffed look in these conventional packages. In particular, the food products tend to move, shift and settle within the package during manufacturing, distribution and storage of the packages. Additionally, flexible packages allow externally applied forces of the exterior surfaces of the packages due to handling and storage to compress portions of the fluffed product. Such action causes much of the space or air gaps present between adjacent slices to be removed. Accordingly, once on display for the consumer, these products have unfortunately lost much of their “fluff”, reducing the freshly sliced appearance that is sought to be achieved by the manufacturer.
Further, one prior food package comprises a tray having a food storage compartment and a lid for closing the compartment. The periphery of the tray has a flange that abuts a corresponding flange on the lid when the compartment is closed. The food package may be formed from two webs: a web of trays and a web of lids. Each tray is joined to its respective lid at sealing portions of the tray and lid flanges. In one approach, the flanges are heated to a point that melts the sealing portions of the flanges together. Alternatively, the flanges may be joined together using glue or adhesive, which may also be heated. After the compartment has been filled with food product, the tray and the lid aligned with one another, and the tray and lid glued or bonded together, the packages are then separated from the webs, such as with a cutting tool. This separation process may result in tacking of the edges of the tray and lid flanges. If this tacking occurs where a consumer is to initiate pulling the adjacent flanges apart, the consumer may experience difficulty in separating the lid from the tray to gain access to the food product stored in the compartment.